Michael Cover has over 30 years experience as a Solicitor, both in private practice and as in-house Counsel. He was accredited as a mediator by CEDR in 2002 and now practises independently as a mediator and arbitrator. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Chartered Arbitrator and, as such, is one of the very few commercial mediators that are dual-qualified as mediator and arbitrator.
He is a member of the mediation panel of the Court of Appeal and a Member of the Practice and Standards Committee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, as well as being a Professional Member of the Dispute Board Federation.
Michael has conducted mediations in the following areas:
- Commercial contracts
- Competition/anti-trust law
- Construction and property
- Financial Services
- Franchising
- Insurance
- Intellectual property rights (including patents, trade marks, designs, copyright, domain names)
- IT and computers
- Media and entertainment ( including music )
- Partnership disputes
- Professional negligence
- Shareholder disputes
- Sport
As an intellectual property lawyer by background, Michael’s experience covers the full range of commercial disputes and transactions. He is also accredited as a Family and Business Mediator, having completed the ADR Group Civil and Commercial to Family hybrid conversion accreditation programme.
Michael has considerable experience in business, having been a non-executive director of companies in the leisure and legal information sectors.
He is a regular writer, speaker and presenter on ADR topics, including being the co-presenter of a workshop on mediating IP disputes at the CIArb Mediation Symposium, The Key Issues and Challenges Facing Mediators, in September 2008 in London. He has a particular interest in mediation of cross-cultural disputes and has mediated disputes in the French language.
